from what I've seen it looked interesting viewing. Out with the old and in with the young was the message from the selectors of which apparently a number of senior players were on the panel. Bet the players left out are happy with those guys. Good to see Mo get a decent score today. Nice to see England play on at least a decent pitch instead of whatever that was a few week ago. Anyway enjoy it fans of the longer format of the game. The new year will be here soon and the diet of ODI and T/20 cricket starts for a good 6/7 month.
Love Mr Ali, always gives his best and his general quite reliable to get at least a half century if not more and he's a pretty decent bowler to boot
Was heading for a draw after day one and even more so after day two. Typical Indian wicket that's batter friendly so they can get five days of ticket sales and corporate in without having to refund anyone.
You'd possibly get more replies if the cricket was on a channel which people could watch. As things stand, the majority of people can't watch the cricket. That's why it is dying at club level - nobody is interested any more. What a legacy from the great 2005 Ashes season! Not only that, people are either asleep or at work when the cricket is on, so it's no surprise that hardly anybody can watch it.
Can't really blame that on anyone though (not saying you are), due to cricket's nature and format, especially when it's in a foreign country! T20 has made it far more accessible and crowds at T20s at Yorkshire have increased significantly recently; getting around 8,000 in avaerage plus Roses sell-out
I'm surprised you haven't managed to shoehorn a 'Hourihane is *****' comment into this post. I'm mean what kind of hopeless ***** is he to not even be considered by the selectors. Come on Conor, get a grip.
Loved the old interview with Moeen when the interviewer said "what would you like to do after you've finished with cricket ?" when Moeen said " I want to own a chippy" silence followed for a few seconds til the interviewer realised that Moeen really meant it . He frustrates the he'll out of me sometimes cos he's such a good cricketer but occasionally he looks like it's just too much hassle for him and he can't be arsed.
Apparently a five day test pass cost 600 rupees which according to Google is 7.14 in our money. Barely seven quid to watch two top test playing nations for 4-5 days and yet the ground has been pretty empty for the first two days. It's not a cost thing either because after christmas when the limited overs stuff starts the grounds will probably be sold out or close to being. They just don't care about test cricket, yet for us over here depending on venue/stand/opposition you can pay hundred quid for one day.
Do you honestly think that's a good wicket? I think wickets like that are an absolute bore-fest. I want to see a fair contest between bat and ball, even if that sometimes means the game doesn't go the distance. This is just turgid.
I think there's a bit in it Tykeitical masterstroke. England aren't bowling badly at all. Rashid getting a few to spin and a few to bounce. It'll go quickly at some point like it normally does in Asia. Better than Bangladesh this for me. They decided they couldn't live with England on a decent pitch so went with a toss of the coin pitch and it fell for them in that second test to get the draw in the series.
It's looked like a draw since day one. In India you will never get a pitch made that's a level playing field between batters and bowlers. They wouldn't risk a three day test putting them out of pocket.
If England had gotton the not playing a shot on Ashwin a few balls before they reviewed a similar bowl then England win this one imo. might be 10 overs short. It's been happening like this in India for a while, They have won 12/13 tests with Ashwin staring.
